Input Devices

Input device enables the user to send data, information, or control signals to a
computer. The Central Processing Unit (CPU) of a computer receives the input and
processes it to produce the output.

Some of the popular input devices are:

1. Keyboard
2. Mouse
3. Scanner
4. Joystick
5. Light Pen
6. Digitizer
7. Microphone
8. Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)
9. Optical Character Reader (OCR)
10. Digital Camera
11. Paddle
12. Steering Wheel
13. Gesture recognition devices
14. Light Gun
15. Touch Pad
16. Remote
17. Touch screen
18. VR
19. Webcam
20. Biometric Devices
1) Keyboard
The keyboard is a basic input device that is used to enter data into a computer or any
other electronic device by pressing keys. It has different sets of keys for letters, numbers,
characters, and functions. Keyboards are connected to a computer through USB or a
Bluetooth device for wireless communication.

Types of keyboards: There can be different types of keyboards based on the region
and language used. Some of the common types of keyboards are as follows:

i) QWERTY Keyboard:

It is the most commonly used keyboard with computers in modern times. It is named
after the first six letters of the top row of buttons and is even popular in countries that
do not use Latin-based alphabet. It is so popular that some people think that it is the
only type of keyboard to use with computers as an input device.

ii) AZERTY Keyboard:

Its name is derived from

the first six letters that appear on the top left row of the keyboard. The Q and W keys in
AZERTY keyboard are interchanged with A and Z keys in QWERTY keyboard.
Furthermore, in AZERTY keyboard M key is located to the left of the L key.
AZERTY keyboard differs from QWERTY keyboard not only in the placement of letters
but also in many other ways, e.g., it gives emphasis on accents, which is required for
writing European languages like French.

iii) DVORAK Keyboard:

This type of keyboard layout was developed to increase the typing speed by reducing
the finger movement while typing. The most frequently used letters are kept in a home
row to improve typing.

2) Mouse
The mouse is a hand-held input device which is used to move cursor or pointer across
the screen

Laptop computers come with a touchpad that works as a mouse. It lets you control the
movement of cursor or pointer by moving your finger over the touchpad. The mouse was
invented by Douglas C. Engelbart in 1963.

Common types of the mouse:

i) Trackball Mouse:
It is a stationary input device that has ball mechanism to move the pointer or cursor on
the screen. The device has sensor to detect the rotation of ball. It remains stationary;
you don't need to move it on the operating surface. So, it is an ideal device if you have
limited desk space as you don't need to move it like a mouse.

ii) Mechanical Mouse:

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It has a system of a ball and several rollers to track its movement. It is a corded type of
mouse. A mechanical mouse can be used for high performance. The drawback is that
they tend to get dust into the mechanics and thus require regular cleaning.

iii) Optical Mouse:

An optical mouse uses optical electronics to track its movement. It is more reliable than
a mechanical mouse and also requires less maintenance. However, its performance is
affected by the surface on which it is operated. Plain non-glossy mouse mat should be
used for best results. The rough surface may cause problems for the optical recognition
system, and the glossy surface may reflect the light wrongly and thus may cause
tracking issues.

iv) Cordless or Wireless Mouse:

As the name suggests, this type of mouse lacks cable and uses wireless technology such
as IrDA (infrared) or radio (Bluetooth or Wi-Fi) to control the movement of the cursor. It
is used to improve the experience of using a mouse. It uses batteries for its power
supply

3) Scanner
The scanner uses the pictures and pages of text as input. It scans the picture or a
document. The scanned picture or document then converted into a digital format or file
and is displayed on the screen as an output. It uses optical character recognition
techniques to convert images into digital ones.

Types of Scanner:

i) Flatbed Scanner:

It has a glass pane and a moving optical CIS or CCD array. The light illuminates the pane,
and then the image is placed on the glass pane. The light moves across the glass pane
and scans the document and thus produces its digital copy. You will need a
transparency adapter while scanning transparent slides.

ii) Handheld Scanner:

It is a small manual scanning device which is held by hand and is rolled over a flat image
that is to be scanned. The drawback in using this device is that the hand should be
steady while scanning; otherwise, it may distort the image. One of the commonly used
handheld scanners is the barcode scanner which you would have seen in shopping
stores.

iii) Sheetfed Scanner:

In this scanner, the document is inserted into the slot provided in the scanner. The main
components of this scanner include the sheet-feeder, scanning module, and calibration
sheet. The light does not move in this scanner. Instead, the document moves through
the scanner. It is suitable for scanning single page documents, not for thick objects like
books, magazines, etc.

iv) Drum Scanner:

Drum scanner has a photomultiplier tube (PMT) to scan images. It does not have a
charge-coupled device like a flatbed scanner. The photomultiplier tube is extremely
sensitive to light.

These scanners have high resolution and are suitable for detailed scans. v) Photo
Scanner:
It is designed to scan photographs. It has high resolution and color depth, which are
required for scanning photographs. Some photo scanners come with in-built software
for cleaning and restoring old photographs.

4) Joystick

A joystick is also a pointing input device like a mouse. It is made up of a stick with a
spherical base. The base is fitted in a socket that allows free movement of the stick. The
movement of stick controls the cursor or pointer on the screen.

The frist joystick was invented by C. B. Mirick at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
5) Light Pen

A light pen is a computer input device that looks like a pen. The tip of the light pen
contains a light-sensitive detector that enables the user to point to or select objects on
the display screen. Its light sensitive tip detects the object location and sends the
corresponding signals to the CPU. It is not compatible with LCD screens, so it is not in
use today. It also helps you draw on the screen if needed. The first light pen was
invented around 1955 as a part of the Whirlwind project at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT).
6) Digitizer

Digitizer is a
computer input device that has a flat surface and usually comes with a
stylus. It enables the user to draw images and graphics using the stylus as
we draw on paper with a pencil. t can be used to capture handwritten
signatures and data or images from taped papers. Furthermore, it is also
used to receive information in the form of drawings and send output to a
CAD (Computer-aided design) application and software like AutoCAD. Thus,
it allows you to convert hand-drawn images into a format suitable for
computer processing.

7) Microphone
The microphone is a computer input device that is used to input the sound. It receives
the sound vibrations and converts them into audio signals or sends to a recording
medium. The audio signals are converted into digital data and stored in the computer.
The microphone also enables the user to telecommunicate with others

8) Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR)

MICR computer input device is designed to read the text printed with magnetic ink.
MICR is a character recognition technology that makes use of special magnetized ink
which is sensitive to magnetic fields. It is widely used in banks to process the cheques
and other organizations where security is a major concern. It can process three hundred
cheques in a minute with hundred-percent accuracy
9) Optical Character Reader (OCR)

OCR computer input device is designed to convert the scanned images of handwritten,
typed or printed text into digital text. It is widely used in offices and libraries to convert
documents and books into electronic files.

It processes and copies the physical form of a document using a scanner

It is widely used to convert hard copy legal or historic documents into PDFs. The
converted documents can be edited if required like we edit documents created in ms
word.

10) Digital camera:

It is a digital device as it captures images and records videos digitally and then stores
them on a memory card. It is provided with an image sensor chip to capture images, as
opposed to film used by traditional cameras
It has photosensors to record light that enters the camera through the
lens11) Paddle:

It is a simple input device that is widely used in games. It is a wheel that is held by hand
and looks like a volume knob on a stereo that is used to increase or decrease the
volume.

It is widely used as an alternative to the joystick. Besides this, the term paddle also refers
to many handheld devices designed to control a function in an electronic device,
computer, etc.

12) Steering wheel:

It is used as an input device in racing video games such as car racing games or in driving
programs as virtual simulators to steer a vehicle.
13) Gesture recognition devices:

These devices take human gestures as input. There are many such devices that respond
to gestures. For example, Kinect is one such device that observes the movement of a
player's body and interprets these movements as inputs to video games

14) Light Gun:

As the name suggests, it is a pointing input device that is designed to point at and
shoot the targets on the screen in a video game, or arcade, etc. The light gun was used
for the first time on the MIT Whirwind computer.
15) Touchpad:

It is usually found in laptops as a substitute for the mouse. It allows you to move or
control the cursor on the screen using your finger.

Using the touchpad, you can perform all the tasks that you do with a mouse,
such as selecting an object on the screen, copy, paste, delete, open a file or
folder, and more.

16) Remote:

It is a hardware device designed to control the functioning of a device, e.g., a TV remote

that can be used to change channels, increase or decrease the volume, from a distance
without leaving the seat. The first cordless TV remote was invented by Dr. Robert Adler
of Zenith in 1956.
17) Touch screen:

It is the display screen of a device such as a smartphone, tablet, etc., that allows users to
interact or provide inputs to the device by using their finger. Today, most of the
electronic devices come with touchscreen as an alternative to a mouse for navigating a
graphical user interface. For example, by touching, you can unlock your phone, open
emails, open files, play videos, etc.

The concept of the touch screen was first introduced and published by E.A.
Johnson in 1965. The first touch screen was developed at the beginning of
the 1970s by CERN engineers Frank Beck and Bent Stumpe.

18) VR:

VR stands for virtual reality. It is an artificial or virtual environment which is generated by

computers. A person can interact with virtual objects of this artificial environment using
some input devices such as headsets, gloves, headphones, etc.
19) Webcam:

Any camera which is connected to a computer is called a webcam. The in-built camera
provided on a computer can also be considered a webcam. It is an input device as it can
take pictures, and can be used to record videos if required. The pictures and videos are
stored in the computer memory and can be displayed on the screen if required

20) Biometric Devices:

Biometrics refers to a process in which a person is identified through his or her
biological features such as fingerprints, eye cornea, face structure, etc. It is done by
using biometric devices, which can be of different types based on their scanning
features and abilities, such as:
i) Face Scanner:
It is designed to identify a person by scanning his or her face. It takes the face
measurements of a person. For example, the distance between eyes, nose, and mouth,
etc., accordingly, it confirms the identity of a person. Besides this, it is smart enough to
differentiate between a person's picture and the real person.

ii) Hand Scanner:

The hand of a person can also be used to verify his or her identity as every person has a
unique pattern of veins in the palm, just like fingerprints. This device takes advantage of
this feature; it identifies a person by scanning the palm of his hand

iii) Fingerprint Scanner:

It scans the fingerprints to identify people or for biometric authentication. This device is
developed, keeping in mind the fact that no two persons in the world can have the same
fingerprints. It is widely used in companies as a fingerprint attendance system to mark
the attendance of employees

v) Voice Scanner:

It records the voice of a person and digitizes it to create a distinctive voice print or
template. The voiceprints are stored in the database, and are used to verify the voice of
a person to confirm his or her identity.